LOCAL TWITCH TO SEE SABINES GULL AT BUDDS FARM 23.1.23

On Monday morning I visited Budds farm in Hampshire to see if the summer plumaged Sabines gull was still around.

I haven’t been there before but found the directions easy to find and arrived there at 9 am and parked up.

Traffic was busy, especially around Chichester, and took me 30 mins.

I headed to where it was last reported on the foreshore and had a quick glimpse before it flew over me and headed to what I now know is called the breach area. Basically, end of the car park and turn left, then follow the track.

When I arrived at the breach/lagoon area a small group had gathered and just in front of them at about 15 meters was the Sabine’s gull, feeding on small food items and generally just mooching around looking for food, oblivious to the watchers on.

It would spend a few minutes foraging before flying out to sea and then repeating its movements.

The lighting was quite harsh and quite tricky but I managed some nice shots with plenty of exposure compensation ( up to -2.0 comp ) needed for most of the time. I had to wait for it to fly in and over me before I could get the flight shots as it banked left or right with the sun behind me. As it flew at me it faced the sun was almost impossible to get shots until it was marsh side.

I stayed a couple of hours and really enjoyed time with this rare Arctic species, especially in summer plumage, a very handsome gull.

Here are a few from my visit.